obrigada, obrigada, obrigada...

I woke up this morning with the intention of getting ready quickly, eating breakfast quickly, and getting to school early.  I did get ready, eat breakfast, and get to school, but not quickly or early, and I actually ate my breakfast walking.  So my bed was not made, my wardrobe indecisiveness lay in piles all over my room,  and my bathroom was in a state of "people are knocking on my door because I am supposed to be already walking to a meeting and I'm still in the bathroom putting on mascara."  My family knows that coming home to a HOUSE where anything is out of place bothers me, but a BEDROOM that looks like it was struck by an F5 tornado doesn't particularly phase me (just close the door and go to another part of the house where everything is put away...this philosophy may seem contradictory, but it makes sense to me).  However, upon arriving home today, I found that my bed was made, my clothes were all folded, my bathroom was tidy, and everything was precisely the opposite of how I had left it that morning.  I did know that a maid would come each week and clean at the "Big House."  I, however, figured she would just sweep a little, maybe clean the bathroom tiles, take out trash...I did not think she would tidy up all of the things that I had not bothered to tidy myself.  I felt bad.  I'm an adult and I can clean up after myself.  That doesn't mean I don't appreciate or like that someone else cleaned up after me, because I like it very much, and this is a new feeling, as I did not grow up in a household where things were cleaned up for me.  You get it out, you put it away, you mess it up, you clean it up.  So I will be very thankful every Tuesday for Maria going "above and beyond"...and I'll probably tidy up my room on Monday nights.

This morning I headed off to the Federal Police with Rosa again, and this time three other ladies joined us.  I have found that I thoroughly enjoy hearing other people's stories about how they ended up in Brazil and what they like/dislike about living here (really, I like hearing other people's stories anywhere about anything, because I'm a girl and I'm nosy and I like to know other people's business)....which makes me wonder why the rest of you aren't all writing blogs and telling ME all about what you ate for breakfast and what you've accomplished in life after the most important meal of the day???  Anyhow, we stopped at the Federal Police and picked up whatever it was that I needed there and then headed to the "Ministerio of something to do with the government" in downtown Sao Paulo to get work permits, or something to that effect.  Again, Rosa gets everything together and I smile and nod, step up to counter when I'm told, sit down when I'm told, shhhh when I'm told I'm being a loud American in a little Brazilian office.  We stopped on our way home from these errands so that I could have my first Brazilian coffee (the other ladies were aghast that I had been here 6 whole days and had not yet had Brazilian coffee).  When I say coffee, I really mean half coffee, half milk, and sugar (cafe com leite).  For a non-coffee drinker who is pretty ignorant about good and bad coffee, I think this was pretty good for what amounted to about 70 cents for a juice glass full of coffee (and milk) on an 80 degree day.  When we returned to school, I made my way to the preschool where I spent the afternoon with my new little friends.  One of these dear little ones asked me this afternoon if I had a baby.  I replied that I did not, hoping that he had babies on the brain since one of his other teachers is eight months pregnant, and not because I look like I am eight months pregnant too.  He later told me that when HE gets older, HE is going to have a baby in HIS tummy too (as he patted his tummy for emphasis).  I told him that  he would not be having a baby in his tummy and promptly changed the subject (I have not heard that it is in my job description to explain this to him, so I'm not going to).  I'm going to chalk it up to babies on the brain, and continue to believe that I do not look like I'm with child.  That will help me sleep at night.

I'm still waiting to hear what you did today...